The Mental Health Bill 2025 – planned changes to laws around mental health – is currently being considered by politicians. Here’s everything nursing staff need to know.
What is the Mental Health Bill?
The Mental Health Bill is a set of proposed changes to update the Mental Health Act which applies to England and Wales. These are the main laws that cover if someone can be detained (also known as 'sectioned') to be treated for a serious mental health condition.
What is the aim of the bill?
To modernise the Mental Health Act (MHA) of 1983. Health secretary Wes Streeting says the act has “saved lives... but it is hugely outdated”. Labour promised to update the MHA, now more than 40 years old, in its party manifesto ahead of the election in summer 2024.
Wasn’t there a Mental Health Bill quite recently?
Yes, a draft bill was created under the previous Conservative government in 2022 and was looked at by MPs from different political parties. But it wasn’t brought to parliament before the general election in 2024 when the Labour government came into power. It’s hoped the years of discussions around the 2022 bill will help influence this bill for the better.
What is being proposed in the Mental Health Bill 2025?
The UK government says the changes outlined in the bill will “give patients greater choice, autonomy, enhanced rights and support, and ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect throughout treatment.”
Key points include:
- strengthening and expanding the rights of a detained person to appeal their detention and the right for someone to represent them
- strengthening and clarifying the detention criteria to make sure people are only detained if they are a danger to themselves or others
- reforming the use of (CTOs)
- stopping the unnecessary detention of people with a learning disability and/or autism, by creating a 28-day limit for detention, unless they have a co-occurring mental health condition that requires hospital treatment
- introducing statutory care plans for people detained under the Mental Health Act
- changes to involve patients more in decisions about their care, including a new clinical checklist and helping patients make an advance choice document about their care
- ending the use of police cells and prisons as places of safety
What is the 茄子视频’s position on the Mental Health Bill?
The 茄子视频 generally welcomes the publication of the Mental Health Bill. Here's a summary of what we think about it.
- The bill is a crucial step to improving mental health care for some of the most vulnerable patients the NHS cares for.
- Nursing staff make up the bulk of the NHS mental health workforce, and therefore the main professional group delivering care under the Mental Health Act. It is vital that the expertise of the nursing profession is used to shape and scrutinise this legislation.
- The 茄子视频 supports steps to put patients at the centre of decisions about their own care, to promote choice, embed equality and personal recovery. This must be applied to all health care, social care and forensic settings.
- The 茄子视频 supports improving and strengthening patients’ rights for planning their care and refusal of treatment, and improved checks and balances on detention treatment decisions.
- For these reforms, £1.9bn is earmarked for costs for the NHS to reflect the expected increased workloads for health care staff. Investment in the mental health nursing workforce must be a cornerstone of this spending. Without this, these vital reforms risk being unachievable.
- Mental health services are already overstretched and unable to keep up with patient demand. Long-term and sustainable funding must be attached to these reforms.
Does the 茄子视频 have any concerns with the bill?
Yes, in these key areas below.
- Learning disabilities and autism.
While we’re supportive of measures to reduce the numbers of people with autism and/or a learning disability being detained under the Mental Health Act, more work is needed to provide appropriate community care to these people to ensure their safety. The 茄子视频 remains concerned that the MHA is being used to detain individuals with autism and/or learning disabilities due to a lack of appropriate alternative services. We need to recruit and retain more learning disability nurses to provide the proper care.
- Racial disparities.
This proposed reform of the MHA has to make the mental health system fair for everyone by addressing racial disparities. Black people are 4 times more likely to be detained under the MHA and twice as likely to be arrested under section 136 (powers given to police to detain a person for mental health reasons). The overuse of restraint, particularly on black men, is not addressed in the proposed legislation. Services are not seen as accessible to all communities. Many black men’s first interaction with a mental health service is via the police during a crisis.
The 茄子视频 is disappointed the bill does not propose to abolish Community Treatment Orders. There is widespread evidence that CTOs are ineffective at reducing admissions or relapses and are given disproportionately to black people. The 茄子视频 has repeatedly recommended that CTOs be abolished. We urge the government to reassess this position.
The 茄子视频 would like to see mandatory training for all staff on human rights and equality in the context of the MHA, that examines the impact of systemic, institutional and interpersonal forms of racism and discrimination. This training should be mandated in statutory guidance for all health care providers.
- Supporting the nursing workforce.
A 10-year plan for the NHS in England is due to be published in spring 2025, with a new NHS workforce plan published soon after. The 茄子视频 believes there is an opportunity to join up the ambitions of the MHA reforms with the long-term plans for the NHS. This must result in long-term investment in the mental health nursing and learning disability nursing workforce.
Additionally, we’re calling for a maximum caseload for mental health community nurses.
How is the 茄子视频 influencing the Mental Health Bill?
We’re working with mental health charities, the British Medical Association and lobbying members of the House of Lords to make sure the Mental Health Bill has all the necessary elements it needs to work for everyone. We will carefully assess the impact of the proposed legislation and seek amendments where relevant to better support the mental health nursing workforce and the patients they care for.
Is the bill a positive thing for the nursing workforce?
It could be, but it’s important that the 茄子视频 and its members continue to influence the content of the bill by speaking to people in power like peers in the House of Lords and MPs in the House of Commons.
Does this affect all of the UK?
No, the bill proposes changes for England and Wales only. Health and social care is directly controlled by some nations of the UK under devolved powers. Wales has devolved powers for health (along with Scotland and Northern Ireland), but its laws on compulsory detention and treatment of people with a mental disorder – including the Mental Health Act – are decided by the UK Government.
What’s happening now?
The Mental Health Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords in November 2024. It’s now going through further scrutiny in the House of Lords, with peers considering changes to the legislation. Then the bill will head to the House of Commons where it will face further scrutiny and debate from MPs.
How long will it take for things to really change?
It could take 10 years to see all the reforms implemented widely. Peers in the House of Lords have commented that the speed of any change is limited by the need to expand and train the workforce. The earliest we might see some reforms is 2027, but it's hard to tell at this stage.
